Food Factory

Last year our ricketty old conservatory was a veritable food factory. I had three varieties of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions, peppers and all manner of herbs growing in profusion.

It was a huge success - the tomatoes lasted us all through the summer, though they never stayed on the vines long enough to have enough for a salad - the girls would eat them as soon as the first hint of red appeared! The cucumbers were the best though - I didn't really expect them to do anything much, but the fruits we got were so good, so different from shop ones, almost perfumed in the intensity of the flavour.

This year, things aren't looking so hopeful. The lettuce has done well, and the squash. The single bean that G planted at playgroup is already shooting up. But the tomatoes have stubbornly refused to even sprout, and I'm doubtful of the cucumbers. So, my food factory is looking a bit puny at the moment. I'm not too put out as Dad has promised to plant some veg for us in his garden, so we should have plenty of home-grown produce (plus eggs now that he has six gorgeous brown hens).

But it's not the same as the fun of growing your own. So, although I'm still determined to sprout a few more things (very much inspired by last week's photoblog entries), I'm keeping my eye out for the date of the TN Allotment Plant Swap, some time towards the end of May. I may not have any seedlings to swap, so, remembering how someone from Sustainable Bungay talked about swapping jam, I'm thinking what else I can offer.

I wonder how many home-made jam tarts I would need to swap for some tomato plants!